Evds2702marks’s Weblog

This week, Ed Epp came in to speak to us on flood architecture, and the University of Manitoba’s (Faculty of Architecure) involovement in the International Center for Flood Architecture. Involved in this project are universities and research facilities from around the world. Founded by Ed Epp and the Faculty of Architecture at the University of Manitoba, the foundation’s goal is to ”…document innovative architectural / structural solutions for living in flood prone regions of the world (and to use these as a framework to guide further research within the context of the Red River Basin).” Researching land use and codes, settlement,infrastructure, landscape, built form, and product to determine structure and scale within the built environment is an essential part of ICFA, furthering the knowledge of not only local planners dealing with the issues surrounding the Red River, but planners all across the globe.

Research has been done on a global scale, looking at flood cases around the world, and how the issues were dealt with by design.

• The Rhine River Basin (Rotterdam, the Netherlands), where homes actually float on the water, rising with the flood
• The Ganges River Basin (along the Bay of Bengal, India)
• The Yangtze River Basin (Shanghai, China), Three Gorges Dam being built, concrete landforms around river basin

Continual research allows for the Floodarc Studios at the University of Manitoba to further propose alternative solutions to living and working around the Red River.